Haven't woken up yet

from this nightmare!
Good grief. Well time heals all wounds, and clearly 22hrs is not enough. You know the links, blogs, forums etc ... so I'll leave you to those devices. Nothing I'll say here you won't be able to find anywhere else. Yes I will leave it at that. I had a decent night despite the 90 minutes of pure hell.

Rode my bike north of bloor for a dinner party and saw this along the way. I threw a quarter on the field for good luck. Should'a parted with a twenty!!


Locked up my trusty ride.


Token screen shot. Yes had to watch it online, and am lucky enough to have a great girl who didn't mind me sneaking away for two hours to whinge and get wasted in a different room.


End of story, end of season. I'm sure there will be some good posts in the future madly bitching about this team - get ready!!

A night at the pub

Well it's been another crazy week. At least I was able to get a sweet vid up for all to see. But gotta keep moving along and keep up the football hustle. Last night was a good one were once again I got to spend some time on AM980 with the man who knows all sports, Norman James. Norman put together a timely panel of myself, a Reds supporter here and abroad, with his good friend Mike Boothman a ManU supporter leading up to the massive match this Sunday.

It went pretty well but it's hard to hold your ground as a Canadian boy through and through who grew up on a steady diet of hockey and baseball and didn't get into football until I was in my teens. It's one thing to talk about the history of your club, but it's completely different when you were actually there to follow them as it happened, as Mike has done.

Norman promised me no curveballs but when he asked me (along the lines of) historically why Liverpool is better than ManU it kinda threw me for a loop. Using what I mentioned above about when I started to follow Liverpool, which was during the Fowler then into Owen era, well it's kinda hard to argue how great Liverpool is - especially compared to ManU. I would feel a bit ... phoney? going on how great they are and titles won in the 70s and 80s that I had no idea were happening at that time. Ask me about the Leafs and Jays from '82 on, ok then, but for me to be honest about my club and my support towards them, I feel like I can really only comment on what I've actually seen. I'm proud to call myself a Liverpool supporter and as I found out earlier this year my link to them is more than an exciting goal scorer or Champion's League title.

I wanted to throw out one more story of being a supporter of Liverpool, but didn't have time. It would have been perfect. My first game at BMO Field (2007 keep in mind) I was walking through the concourse when this stout, grouchy guy in a ManU shirt says to me as I walk by "SHIT SHIRT MATE". I thought it was kinda funny given we were at a TFC game so as I walked back to my seats I saw him again and said, "Hey nice kit MATE. Better luck in Champions League next year, eh?" he came back with something like, "Champions of England! AGAIN!" so my only comeback was "Hey that's great, you can have England, we'll take EUROPE." (Woops I spoke too soon on that one!) By now there are two security guards watching this conversation (bear in mind there was definitely more jibber jabber going on) then he had a doozy where he said "You know what's the best part of being from Liverpool? FORTY-FIVE MILES FROM GREATNESS." Ouch. My only comeback was "Or you could say YOU are forty-five miles from seeing what it takes to beat Chelsea!" (They had just lost the FA Cup that morning to Chelsea). Anyway I had a laugh but he clearly hated me. I'm pretty sure that wasn't Mike Boothman.

With that in mind, Liverpool won at home last year without Gerrard and Torres starting. And didn't have Glen Johnson. So much negativity circling the club they need a massive effort from some unlikely players. COME ON YOU REDS.

Extra! Extra!

Well I figured it out today how to get a few more awesome blogs in during the week that had the whole "no fuss no muss" feeling. Heard about this today (or last night) dorking out to one of too many podcasts.

Apparently this was a game for promotion and at some point this team was winning 2-0. They then found out the team they were up against won 5-1 or something like that. I won't spoil the rest but just watch the other team this is too much.

Who said pack it in!?

NOT ME!! Good grief - no shortage of drama with this motley crew! 2009 home season is in the books and what a season it was. However, after defeating Real Salt Lake 1-0 I guess I shouldn't be talking in the past tense should I? There is still a game to go and we are just as much in it as ... FC Dallas? That is correct. FC Dallas. I don't know if it's because of the playoff race, all the off pitch drama this year, but this was not the same season finale like we've had for the first two years. We've gotten a good result since '07, but those two years there was really good energy at BMO for those games and yesterday felt, well, different. Dichio's tribute was pretty amazing, the game not so much. For real, everyone had to know if Danny was still on the team he would have scored in this game and it would have been the greatest ever. Ah well, I will keep my memories of #9 locked away forever *sigh sigh*. Ok let's get to another wonderful Saturday afternoon south of the Gardiner ...

Caught a bit of the USL championships ... who should I be cheering for??


A perfect walk up to the grounds until this! What the?! I hate detours.



Ok into the stadium and take off our hats for the anthem


And for Danny Dichio.




Alright guys three points is all we need.


Not an exciting first half at all. We almost got scored on within the first couple minutes but Brian Edwards stood tall.


JIMMY B!! I was so excited I couldn't bother to get off a shot. Ah well. Hmmm Jimmy B scores the first goal of the year and the last one at home. Any more proof he shouldn't be at left back and bare minimum could be on the wing?



Holding it off ... LOCKING IT DOWN!


Holy crap TFC wins ... 'topes win? Yes you heard right. No last minutes collapse, no goal in the final 15-20 minutes. Jeez it was like Deja Vu all over again, minus the game tying goal. Not a proper last home game celebration but what can you do when FO want to keep the players away from the fans.


JIMMY DOESN'T CARE!!


MOM!!! Except it should be shared with Brian Edwards. Lots of heart.


ART.


NEXT WEEK - NYRB GOES DOWN. TFC PLAYOFF BOUND '09?!?!

Wednesday night lights

Nothin like catchin a few streams of the best South America has to offer. Hey the quality is shite you gotta take what you can get. I know everyone is going on about a WC without Ronaldo or Messi, but wtf? If your team isn't good enough to make it, then tough luck son! But at this stage it looks like both at least will make the playoff round and everyone at FIFA can quit shitting themselves. Your cash cows will play in your super tourney and Adidas and Nike will be happy and the world will be right.

TFC in mid-week preparations for their "MOST IMPORTANT GAME". I feel like we've been playing our most important game for almost 2 months now. I know I looked at that mini west coast swing in August as what would define our season. Winnable games that we failed to achieve anything. Very disappointing this year. I'm thinking back and the only thing worth mentioning is Montreal. Even if we make the playoffs, I really hope the fact that this team is not a team and plays terribly 90% of the time is dealt with.


Anyway just a rare mid-week post/rant to put out there while I watch Argentina v. Uruguay.

Pack it in

Man, what to say about this? Can't beat one of the worst teams at home, in a critical game to WIN if we're going to make the playoffs. Did anyone else recognize how casual this team plays? Honestly we've been harping on it since the Chivas game in August how this team clearly doesn't have the stones to make it happen, which is completely ridiculous considering the amount of talent on the pitch. Go through our line-up front to back and individually, these are good players - but this is not a good TEAM. Who that falls on, well we can talk about that for hours. Anyway ... at least it was sunny out?

A solo walk to the stadium on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, maybe to see some beautiful football? Well ...


Warm up looks good.


Brian Edwards with the start. Hey, even with the players out, this line-up was still solid.


Nice Yellow boots De Ro!


First half booooring. We said it on the whingecast - did these guys just show up to call it in? No sense of urgency. No pitbull mentality. I was shaking my head by this point.



But second half - OH MY - NANA ATTAKORA!?! One of the best stories of the season - this was almost his second goal as well. He has really come up well, let's just hope he doesn't turn out like Wynne.



I'm looking at the clock at the 72nd minute and started getting worried ...


FOR GOOD REASON!!! W - T - F!!!!



There is nothing to say about this. Nice MOM Nana, but for real this game should have been 4-0. San Jose did not come to win, they came to hang around and steal the point. Well hats off to a team that hung in there and got the point they knew they could steal from us. Not feeling optimistic against Real Salt Lake next week who is 10X the team San Jose is.


Hey maybe it will be sunny out.

The countdown begins

270 minutes and counting ...
I don't know how I feel about this whole "most important in club history blalblalb". Please. Personally I'd be more stoked if we were fighting to win first overall, not squeek into the playoffs, most of which will determine on other teams losing. But I like to think that I'm a positive guy. Hey, when I step into BMO Field, I am there to cheer the team on and hopefully watch us win.

I'm back into what my pal/co-host Stephe Perry has dubbed "The Silence Pit" aka Section 105. Swapping tix with Timmy V so he can sit with his dad who is hilarious listening to when a game is going on. I've watched the last two road games with Steve (not co-host Stephe, but Mr. V) and he yells out the most obvious/basic things but TFC can't do it. "CROSS IT INTO THE MIDDLE!! COME ON NOW!!" Hmmm put the cross into the middle? Who'd have thought?! "GO FORWARD!! NO!! NOT BACKWARDS, FORWARD!!!" Holy shit! Sometimes I think Stefan Frei makes more passes than anyone else on the team. I think I will start referring to the team as the broken wheel. It makes sense to me.

But back to 105. Interesting comment from Chris Cummins this week with regards to needing a 12th man today to get behind the team. I will now beat a dead horse. Sorry Chris, in case you were unaware, TFC/MLSE does not promote this kind of behaviour outside of their Marketing Sect .. err.... I mean Supporters Sections. It bums me out that in the next two games, which are super important, missing key players, where the team NEEDS that 12th 'man', that in 70% of the stadium we have to sit and watch in a polite, baseball game/tennis match manner. Because if they/we become overwhelmed with the urge to cheer the lads on - well that is not acceptable and such types will be removed from the grounds. I'm sorry but BMO will never be a fortress in this regulated, carefully constructed way.

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Hey well at least we have the wave!! BARRFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF


Ok, who cares? One hour to go - time to get red!

It's Saturday!

And what a day. The only thing missing is a TFC home game. This weather is disgusting. I almost got in a fist fight biking around earlier when at a red light some jerkoff thinks it's his right to ride his horn trying to make a right turn when I'm waiting for the light to change to go straight through. Do I need to have a copy of the Highway Act every time I go out? Hey man, 20 seconds isn't going to kill you. Take a deep breath, count to ten and say "serenity now".

So that ruined what was an already ruined Saturday due to horrible weather. BUT when taking my sweet time home last night I was able to find this:


I guess it's not that big a deal but considering I'd much rather not step foot in Chapters/Indigo, I was pretty shocked to see this WAAAY at the back in the football section of the magazine rack. I was looking for the Champion's League mag, but this was a nice surprise. I've hooted and hollar'd about the guys who write for this a couple times through My Favorite Year and I just read the sort of Encyclopedia of football in the UK they put out. I want a subscription to this! And this is super nerd but they even have cool shirts - STUFF YER SUPERLEAGUE! HAR HAR HAR!!


Well I'm glad one decent thing happened so far this weekend. And as I look out the window now, it seems to be clearing up! WHoo-Rah!

Weekend Update

Well it looks like it has come to this. I'm just such a busy man! Mon-Thurs I just can't hack it at night to come up with a post or two. Actually now I'm getting down on myself - what's wrong with you spark!? Not even a line or two? or even a pic!??! Man, you've changed.

Ok, ok. No excuses. The above is the truth as RNO is a bit of a monster and it's growing like a mofo. In the last five minutes (I was working for the last five minutes and now i'm back blogging) I've decided that I just need to come up with some kind of frequent post topic that I can pump out more often. Whatever happened to the Magic Eight Ball?! That shit was funny.

Case in point. This was a good one - my top five for 2009 - GRASS! BOOYA!! Ahhh wishes do come true.

Crazy week so far and my head spins and spins. Jesus is TFC actually going to make the playoffs? It's almost looking that way with their last three games against pretty bad opposition. However, I don't think any of the games will be a walk in the park. San Jose hasn't been the worst thing ever since August and if they can shock Seattle and DC United at home, there's no reason to think it couldn't happen here. RSL are terrible on the road, but I still don't put it past them given the talent they actually have. I think too many people are looking at everyone else and not directly at ourselves. TFC aren't exactly a squad that has their shit together. We finally scored on the road but as long as we keep defending ... errr or lack there of ... crosses the way we do, Toronto will keep hemorrhaging goals in this manner.

Well at least there is a weekend off to sit back, watch all the games and come up with new stats monday morning on how we're going to make the post-season!